The Grinch
by audrey-chan
Summary: Eudial tells Mimete that there's no Santa, and has to live up to destroying Mimete's "delusions" ...


"Sempai!!!!!!!"  
  
Eudial groaned. Couldn't she have just one day where that annoying little airhead wouldn't bother her?  
  
"Oh, Eudial-sama! I'm SOO glad I found you!" Mimete giggled, sitting down quickly at the tiny breakfast table in the Witches 5 lab. "Eudial-sama, PLEASE try to smile! You know what day it is, don't you?"  
  
"The day hell freezes over?"  
  
"No, silly!" Mimete burst out laughing. Across the room, Tellu and Viluy shared a nervous glance, then shot a pitiful look at Eudial. "It's Christmas Eve! And you know what that means, right?"  
  
"I get to spend another entire day with you?"  
  
"Of course! But that wasn't what I was looking for, dear sempai!" Mimete grinned like a cheshire cat. "Guess who's COMING late tonight to bring presents and fun stuff???"  
  
"Brad Pitt?" Eudial yawned.  
  
"Ooh, I wish! That would be just so totally awesome ..." Mimete looked away, and sighed dreamily. She snapped back quickly (as in, yes, she physically snapped her head). "It's Santa Claus!"  
  
There was a long pause before Eudial spoke again, obviously aggitated, like a mother speaking to it's misbehaving child.  
  
"Mimete," she sighed. "You just can't still believe ... can you?"  
  
Mimete stared at her blankly.  
  
"You can," Eudial sighed deeply. "Mimete, I don't know any other way to tell you this ... there is no such thing as Santa Claus."  
  
Mimete stared blankly at her for a few minutes, then broke out in laughed. "Oh, sempai Eudial, you are soooo funny!!!!!!!!!!"  
  
"It's not a joke," Eudial glared. "And stop calling me sempai! We're not even working!"  
  
Mimete stared at her, then dropped her chin, covered her face with her hands, and began to sob.  
  
"Now you've gone and done it," Cyprine said, sitting down with them and stuffing a full biscuit in her mouth. "You've ruined her Christmas! Great job, Eudial!"  
  
"Well, she can't keep believing in Santa forever!"  
  
"What a Grinch," Ptilol rolled her eyes, then sat down next to Mimete. "Don't worry, Mimete ... WE still believe in Santa Claus."  
  
Mimete shoved her away, then ran off to her room, sobbing madly. The other witches sat in silence, staring after her.  
  
"Well," Tellu said suddenly. "Go fix what you broke, Eudial."  
  
"What? I didn't do anything wrong!"  
  
"Go cheer her up," Tellu said sternly.  
  
"Why should I?!"  
  
"Remember how you asked Viluy to keep some of your valuable, irreplacable weapons in her room for you?"  
  
"... Fine, fine. You win."  
  
~*~*~  
  
"Mimete-chan? Open the door, please."  
  
"Just go away!"  
  
"Mimete, this is your dear sempai. Open the door."  
  
"You told me to stop calling you sempai! Go away!"  
  
"Mimete, open the door now before I take every one of your presents and burn them to a single pile of ashes and feed it to a reindeer."  
  
There was a pause, and slowly the door creaked open, just an inch. Eudial stepped inside, and looked at Mimete, who had thrown herself upon her bed, her face buried in her pillow.  
  
"Mimete," Eudial sighed, and sat on the edge of her bed. "Mimete, please look up."  
  
"What is it?" Mimete looked up, her face stained with tears.   
  
"Mimete, I wanted to know that I didn't mean to ruin your Christmas, and I'm very sor--" Eudial coughed loudly. "Let me try that again; I'm very sor--"   
  
"Sorry?"  
  
"Right! Anyway ... okay, I'll be going now," Eudial stood up to leave, but Mimete shot up from her bed and grabbed Eudial's arm.  
  
"Wait a minute, Eudial-sama," Mimete grinned. "I haven't finished my Christmas shopping!"  
  
"O..kay..."  
  
"And I think that since you destroyed the single delusion which I was using to despirately cling on to my childhood ... you should take me shopping!"  
  
"No way," Eudial said, her eyes wide in terror. Shopping with Mimete was like shopping with about 50 twelve year olds. And on Christmas Eve?  
  
"You better ... or else!"  
  
"Or else what?" Eudial rolled her eyes.  
  
"Or else ... I'll tell Kaolinite!"  
  
"Big deal. Like she'd take five minutes out of her busy life to 'punish' me."  
  
"I'll tell Tomoe! He likes me better than you!"  
  
"What a lie!" Eudial glared.   
  
"Ha! You know it's the truth, sempai. Now take me shopping!"  
  
"I am not going shoppinng with you. And quit calling me sempai!"  
  
Mimete stared at her for a moment, then closed her eyes and took a deep breath.  
  
"KAAAAAAAAAAAAOOOOOOOOOOOOOLLLLLLLLLLLLIIIIIIIIIIIINNNNNNNNNNNIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIITTTTTTTTTTTTEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" she screamed, loud enough for the entire city of Tokyo to hear.  
  
"What do you want, Mimete?" Kaolinite appeared in the doorway, obviously not pleased whatsoever.  
  
"Eudial won't take me shopping!"  
  
"So?"  
  
"She destroyed my delusions! She told me there was no such thing as Santa Claus!"  
  
"Oh!" Kaolinite faked a gasp. "What ever shall we do now?"  
  
"Not funny!" Mimete pouted. "I want Eudial to take me shopping!"  
  
Eudial groaned and fell backwards onto the bed, covering her face with her hands.  
  
"And what do you want me to do?" Kaolinite said.  
  
"Make her! Tell her she has to!"  
  
"Eudial, take her shopping."  
  
"There is no way I am taking her shopping," Eudial said firmly.  
  
"If you don't, I'll scream again!"  
  
"Like I care!" Eudial snapped. "Listen, I've had enough of your childish antics and toddler temper tantrums to last me a LIFETIME! I'm surprised that every hair on my head hasn't turned grey because of you!"  
  
"That's because you're nothing but a mean, nasty old hag!"  
  
"WHAT?!" Eudial lunged at Mimete, hands aiming for her throat.   
  
"Ladies, ladies! Let's keep it verbal!" Kaolinite rushed over and pulled Eudial off of Mimete, fighting and scratching.  
  
"You're such a spoiled brat!" Eudial hissed. "If I didn't have a JOB to do, I would've killed you ages ago!"  
  
"You're so mean!" Mimete said, tears welling up in her eyes. "I never did anything to you, but you always hated me! I only tried to be your friend, and you just hated me!" Mimete began to break into sobs. "I don't know why you hate me so much! Why can't we just be friends?"  
  
Eudial stared at the crying Mimete, then sighed and rolled her eyes.  
  
"Fine! I'll take you to the mall, and you can shop 'till your heart's content," Eudial said, cursing under her breath a bit more.  
  
"Really?" Mimete looked up, managing a sniffle.  
  
"Yes."  
  
"Oh, YAY!" Mimete lunged at Eudial and grabbed her into a tight hug. "Oh Eudial, you're just the bestest person EVER!"  
  
"Hey, hey!" Eudial shoved her off. "We're not THAT close, alright?"  
  
"Touching," Kaolinite laughed. "Simply touching."  
  
~*~*~  
  
"Ooh, lookie! A Chia doggy!" Mimete hugged the box. "You think Tellu would like a Chia doggy, Eudial?"  
  
"I'm sure she'd be thrilled," Eudial said in complete monotone.  
  
"Great! That gets HER present done! Now all I need is -- Eudial-sama, aren't you going to do any Christmas shopping?"  
  
"Hmm? I got mine done weeks ago," Eudial paused. "Except for your gift. What do you want, anyway?"  
  
"Me?" Mimete squealed. "Ooh, I don't know!"  
  
"Perfect. Then I won't get you anything."  
  
"You're so funny!"  
  
"Yeah. Talk about your cheap thrills."  
  
"What do YOU want, Eudial?"  
  
"Absolutely nothing," she said firmly.  
  
"Nothing? There must be SOMETHING you want!"  
  
"There is absolutely nothing I desire from the world."  
  
"... I know the perfect gift to get you!" Mimete began to jump up and down. "Go somewhere else! Go to THAT end of the mall!"  
  
"Okay!" Eudial jumped at the chance to get away from Mimete. She wandered in and out of a few stores, then finally stopped in one of those specialty girl boutiques. You know, the kind with an ear piercing station, a bunch of fuzzy pens, leopard print scrunchies, and big inflatable chairs ... the whole, tacky works. The kind of store that, any other day of the year, Eudial would blow up or set on fire. But it was Christmas Eve, and there were way too many witnesses.  
  
"Maybe I'll find something useless and extremely tacky here," she said to herself. After wandering around for a few minutes, she picked up a purple, fuzzy notebook with a big, embrordered monkey on the front. Each page was decorated with little banana scetches on the side.  
  
"This is tacky enough. Mimete will love it," Eudial almost ... **almost**, I repeat, smiled. And it wasn't one of those evil smiles that villains get right before they kill someone off or destroy something ... it was a sincere one.  
  
"Arg! Christmas is getting to me!"  
  
~*~*~  
  
That night, the witches gathered around the Christmas tree to open their presents. They liked opening presents on Christmas Eve for some reason. No one knew why. No one bothered.  
  
"A Chia dog!" Tellu exclaimed. "Fantastic, Mimete! Thanks so much!"  
  
"You're welcome! I just knew you'd like it!" Mimete turned to Eudial. "See? And you thought she wouldn't like it! I don't know why you're so bitter!"  
  
"That," Ptilol whispered to Cyprine, "is because her heart is three sizes too small."  
  
"Shut up!" Eudial hurled a balled up sheet of wrapping paper at her.  
  
"There's only two more presents," Viluy said, looking under the tree. "They're to and from Mimete and Eudial."  
  
"This should be interesting," Cyprine snickered. Mimete looked eagerly at Eudial, who merely shrugged.  
  
"Go ahead."  
  
"Yay!" Mimete grabbed for the present and shredded off the wrapping paper in three seconds flat. Her face almost seemed to glow with happiness. It made everyone quite uncomfortable.  
  
"Oh, Eudial-sama! It's WONDERFUL!" she hugged the notebook to her chest. "It's going to be my new diary! And perfect, because I just finished off my old one last night! THANK YOU!" Mimete hurled herself at Eudial for a hug, who shoved her off again.  
  
"Alright, alright!" Eudial griped. "Let's see what glorious present awaits me ..."  
  
"You're gonna love it," Mimete beamed, as Eudial tore off the wrapping paper, and opened the small white box underneath. There was one of those anticipating silences, and all the other witches exchanged nervous glances.  
  
"Mimete," Eudial looked up. "This is actually ... nice."  
  
"I knew it, I knew it!" Mimete squealed.  
  
"What'd she get?" The other witches moved in for a closer look. It was a set of bright red star earrings, matching Eudial's hair and eyes perfectly.  
  
"Wow," Tellu sighed happily. "That's so cool."  
  
"You like them, right?" Mimete bounced up and down eagerly.  
  
"Yeah, Mimete ... I really do," Eudial looked away for a moment, cursing to herself. Don't you dare show your face, Eudial. Don't let all the others see you all sentimental like this, Eudial.  
  
"Well, another day, another dollar," Cyprine sighed, and stood up. "Merry Christmas you guys, I'm going to bed."  
  
"Yup, me too," Ptilol followed her out the room.  
  
"We'll clean up tomorrow," Tellu yawned. "Merry Christmas, minna-san."  
  
Viluy and Mimete grabbed a stash of their presents, and ran out of the room, muttering a quick 'goodnight' and 'merry christmas'. Tellu paused for a moment before walking out.  
  
"You alright, Eudial?"  
  
"What?" she looked up. "Oh, yeah. I'm fine. I'll go to bed in a minute."  
  
"Okay," Tellu smiled warmly, then retreated.  
  
Eudial sat for a moment in silence, then carefully picked up the red earrings and began to put them in her ears. She finished, then stood up to leave.  
  
"Sempai," Mimete was in the doorway. "Learn a lesson from me for a moment -- there is always something to be desired. From the world *and* from your friends."  
  
"You and your proverbs," Eudial said blankly. "Go to bed, Mimete. Have a good night's sleep."  
  
"You too," Mimete beamed. "Merry Christmas, Eudial."  
  
"Merry Christmas, Mimete," Eudial said quietly. And as soon as Mimete turned her back -- for just an instant, a sincere smile washed over Eudial's face.  
  
~*~*~  
  
Flames? Oh, well, fire isn't that bad! ~ odile@danceart.net 


End file.
